It also seems the first building renovated as part of this plan would be the Historic Stone Soap Building the abandoned building right next to the Orleans Landing Project. Not much real information on what will be done but there was a quote that makes this seem like it could be an interesting project.

Quote:

Historic Stone Soap Building first up for RiverFront redevelopment

BY ROBIN RUNYAN
MAR 2, 2017
Curbed Detroit

The adaptive reuse of this building should align with the ideals outlined in the East RiverFront plan: Community, equity, efficient urban design. For this redevelopment, the RFP stresses authenticity, in that,

“The East Riverfront has an industrial heritage reflected in the architecture of the Stone Soap Building. The proposed development should serve as a leader for sound urban design and development principles that complement the nature of the district. Development should promote the heritage and historic character in and around Franklin Street. Special consideration shall be given to projects that add increased vertical density in a unique modern intervention to the existing structure and demonstrate the feasibility and sensibility of such improvements.”

As more and more details are coming out about the broad new plan for the east riverfront its starting to look more and more like what many of us have been hoping the area would be developed into is now the goal of these efforts.

This is just another rundown of the broader efforts for the district specifically what is planed inland along Jefferson ave with the tiered scale of development getting taller as it gets closer to Jefferson. It's really cool to imagine what this view from Bell Isle would look like with mid-rises perhaps along East Jefferson and around the east side of the Ren Cen if this plan fully comes to fruition. It also touches completing the riverwalk along Uniroyal site a first step to moving forward with one of the great potential redevelopment sites in the city.

Quote:

Detroit’s Riverfront Is Planning To Be “For All Detroiters”
By Daily Detroit Staff
Mar 2, 2017
The Daily Detroit

Taking a look at the totality of Detroit’s new riverfront plan, it’s full of parks, public access and a focus on density.

Mark Wallace, President & CEO of the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, Maurice D. Cox, Director of the City of Detroit Planning & Development Department and others unveiled the plan was unveiled at a presentation Wednesday night at the Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit.

The plan focuses on accessibility with two new greenways, a beach, expanding the RiverWalk past the Uniroyal site to the Belle Isle Bridge, putting Jefferson on a road diet and adding bike lanes, and park land.

To be clear about where we’re talking about, the boundaries of the East Riverfront district are St. Antoine to the west, East Grand Boulevard to the east, Larned Street to the north and the Detroit River to the south.

Three sites south of Atwater Street which were previously slated for private development will become approximately 7.5 acres of public park space.

Milliken Park will see an expansion as well. Previously, according to the presentation, the thought was to build up more right along the riverfront but as we described in our piece about Jefferson Avenue going from nine to five lanes, the decision has made to put the denser development close to the avenue

I added in that last rendering in even though it had been previously been posted because the next article focuses on much needed streetscape improvements to Jefferson ave itself which is more like a highway then the center of activity for all the neighborhoods of the Lower Eastside as a whole.

One of the early projects in the massive East RiverFront redevelopment plan is making East Jefferson more pedestrian friendly. As of right now, East Jefferson is, like many of the spoke streets, extremely wide (nine lanes in parts). Often times, people will try to cross Jefferson, stuck in the middle, waiting, and dodging traffic.

In the last five years, East Jefferson Avenue between Rivard Street and East Grand Boulevard has been the scene of 1,350 vehicle crashes, 39 pedestrian–vehicular incidents, and nine fatalities of vehicular and pedestrian crashes. Detroit was recently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians.

The plan calls for decreased lanes of traffic (down to five) plus bike lanes and enhanced intersections. The new streetscapes are expected to help in a few key ways. Businesses and apartments line both sides of Jefferson, but the wide street makes it difficult for pedestrians and bikes to safely get from one side to another. The new design will include a stronger median in the middle of the street.

Protected and dedicated bike lanes will help cyclists down this fairly busy stretch. As a comparison, East Lafayette, which runs parallel, has unprotected bike lanes, and cars and buses are often seen driving right through them. There will also be beautification efforts (trees, greenery) down this stretch of road. Improving these intersections should help residents north of Jefferson easily access the businesses and Riverwalk on the south side.

While this project is small in scale and a lot of the time they fly under the radar its good to see that the arena is already driving more investment in the Cass Corridor which along with brush park is the last frontier of midtown that hasn't been completely redeveloped yet.

Quote:

This Cass Corridor property will be redeveloped into the Boulevard Hostel
Coming in 2018

BY ROBIN RUNYAN
MAR 13, 2017
Curbed Detroit

Once a thriving prohibition-era hotel, this long vacant property will soon be redeveloped into a 60-room hostel, with restaurant/bar space on the ground level.

The redevelopment is a joint venture between Southfield-based business attorney Scott Roberts and Oliver Lewis, a European hostel operator who grew up in the Detroit area and who currently operates a 270 bed hostel in Helsinki. They chose to open a hostel to appeal to younger travelers looking for a more social experience or travelers who preferred a lower price point. Located near the Masonic Temple, this hostel will be right between downtown, the new arena, and midtown. They’ll offer travelers social activities not offered at traditional hotels, plus a community space.

They’re anticipating approximately 60 private rooms and 60 dormitory beds. For the private rooms, they’ll have both en-suite and shared bathroom rooms. A long-term lease was signed with the owner of the building, Second Street Property, LLC, in January and they’re expecting to open early 2018. The developers are also currently seeking a restaurant/bar operator for the building.

Sources: Gilbert renews talks of new office addition to One Campus Martius
By Kirk Pinho, Crain's Detroit Business
March 15, 2017

Quote:

Dan Gilbert's team has had serious conversations within the last two months about a building large addition behind its One Campus Martius headquarters building downtown, Crain's has learned.

One source said the addition, if built, would be about 250,000 square feet behind the 1 million-square-foot building originally built for Peter Karmanos' Compuware Corp. Discussions about adding to the building have taken place in the past, including under Compuware ownership, but this appears to be a fresh round of talks.

Two other sources with knowledge of the talks confirmed they have taken place recently.

"We cannot comment on rumors and speculation," said Whitney Eichinger, director of communications for Gilbert's Detroit-based real estate company.
One Campus Martius, located at 1050 Woodward Ave., has an almost "W"-shaped design, spread across 15 stories of office and retail space, although there is a northern section that is just three stories tall that could potentially accomodate more space.

For months Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC, has talked about the need for new office space downtown, where he is arguably the central business district's most powerful and influential landlord. While there are vacant buildings, there are few large blocks of contiguous space available.

It's not known what would happen to the two massive murals that Bedrock curated over the last two years on the northern sides of One Campus Martius.
The Shepard Fairey mural was completed in May 2015; the artists How and Nosm (brothers Raoul and Davide Perre) completed the other mural in April.
Gilbert, also the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been the most active real estate developer in downtown Detroit the last several years.

Well what an opportune time for one of the creditors from Detroit's bankruptcy to start capitalizing on the land deal they got.

Quote:

Syncora document: More than 2.2 million square feet along riverfront land possible
By KIRK PINHO. Crain's Detroit Business. March 22, 2017.

One of Detroit's largest bondholders during its historic municipal bankruptcy says more than 2.2 million square feet of space could be built on nearly 12 acres of east riverfront land it received development rights to as part of its settlement agreement with the city.

Syncora Guarantee Inc., based in Bermuda, is putting a March 31 deadline on possible development partners to submit proposals, according to an offering document obtained by Crain's that has been privately circulated in the past several weeks.

The company said in a statement that it is "actively working with the city, along with various local stakeholders, to develop the best solution for each property."

"We have had substantial interest in the riverfront properties and are engaging in an open and equitable process to identify partners who will properly steward this land to complement the current community-driven plans and development," the statement said.

...

The development, if it comes to fruition, would be one of many taking place along the east riverfront. For example, Dan Gilbert and General Motors Co. are in discussions about a mixed-use project on 10 acres immediately east of the RenCen. Detroit native Richard Baron is building the first phase of the mixed-use Orleans Landing development, which has nearly 300 apartments coming to market. A groundbreaking on that project took place in October 2015.

Below are charts depicting the population gains and declines for Wayne and its surrounding metro counties. The charts reflect the recently released US census data for population changes from 2010 to 2016. All images from MLive. Perhaps nothing very surprising.

From 2010 to 2016, Wayne County experienced the biggest population drop in the state, 71,218 persons. However, it is leveling out some from the previous full decade of change.

Monroe County experienced a population drop of 2,813 persons.

Washtenaw County gained 19,918.

Oakland County's population increase was 41,608.

And Macomb County gained 26,752.

You can link to the chart data for every county in Michigan here: MLive

Wayne doesn't look like its levelling out that much. There is only 6 years of data for this update vs 10 years for the other bars in the graph. Between 2000 and 2010, Wayne County lost 140,000 people, or 14,000 a year. Between 2010 and 2016, it average 11,500 a year.

An owner of Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales is expected to open a restaurant in a vacant Midtown building as part of a $1 million Michigan Strategic Fund loan approved Tuesday in Lansing.

Jon Carlson, a co-founder and managing partner of Northern United Brewing Co., which brews for Jolly Pumpkin, plans a "meat-themed Up North-style destination restaurant" as part of a $7.24 million redevelopment by an affiliate of Midtown Detroit Inc. on Selden Street just west of Second Avenue, according to an MSF briefing memo.

....

The project would add 13,000 square feet across two new floors to the 18,000-square-foot building at 644 Selden St. to bring eight new residential units to the market, according to the memo. In addition, accelerator space for creative companies would be added to the building.

It's expected to add about 65 permanent full-time equivalent jobs paying average wages of $17.68 per hour, according to the briefing memo.

The project is part of a larger planned redevelopment on the block, which also includes turning a vacant lot immediately to the west of the building into a public courtyard.

According to the memo, the larger project also includes a two-phase development about about 20 single-family sustainable homes.